Three Things (August 5th-11th)

1. Grief Bacon.

Have you ever gained weight as the result of emotional eating during a particularly stressful time in your life?

Well, the Germans have a word for that extra weight: kummerspeck.

It translates into English as grief bacon.

I’ve had grief bacon on my mind this week because I’ve caught myself stress eating more than usual.

Just trying to avoid the ‘ol kummerspeck.

For your Thursday reading pleasure: 38 Wonderful Foreign Words We Could Use In English

2. Make sure you’re not missing out on life

A friend of mine posted a link to a blog post entitled “The day I stopped saying ‘hurry up’” on her Facebook page.

I loved the post, and did a search to find out where it had come from.

I found out the post was written by Rachel, over at  Hands Free Mama.

In this particular post, Rachel writes;

Whether it’s …

Sno-cone eating

Flower picking

Seatbelt buckling

Egg cracking

Seashell finding

Ladybug watching

Sidewalk strolling

I will not say, “We don’t have time for this.” Because that is basically saying, “We don’t have time to live.”

Pausing to delight in the simple joys of everyday life is the only way to truly live.

It’s all too easy for us to get so distracted trying to uphold society’s standards of success that we are rarely truly present. We’re so busy rushing to cross the next thing off our to-do list that we don’t think we have time for “frivolous” things like sunsets and picking flowers.

Rachel’s blog is about letting go of these societal and self-imposed expectations and allowing ourselves the time to notice, appreciate and participate in the things that really matter in life.

3. Be Inspired.

I was inspired by a woman I met at the gym.

Dana Shiflett is a volunteer at the local humane society (kudos for that alone, in my book.) I asked her how she got started exercising and she told me that she credits a shelter dog named Dave.

One day she decided to take Dave for a walk at a local park. The dog was so excited that he took off running, up and over a big hill and on down the trail. She didn’t have much choice but to run with him, so that’s what she did. Once she realized that she could run, she just kept doing it.

Dana has also made big changes to her diet. She told me that she had participated in a fast with her church that required her to give up meat, dairy, sugar and yeast. By the end of the fast, she noticed that she felt so much better. She said that her joint pain disappeared and she had more energy. She knew she couldn’t give up sugar (I’m with her there!) but she figured she could give up meat and dairy. She is now a vegan.

These days, she’s in the gym almost every day, is more than 25 pounds lighter and has completely reversed her diabetes.

I don’t know about you, but I’m inspired!

Can you think of anything else that the English language is lacking a word for?

What are some of your favorite simple pleasures?

Who has inspired you lately?